In December of 2003 I sat listening to the PMEA District 5 Honors Band. Esteemed composer Mark Camphouse was the guest conductor. As I sat and listened to “Toccata” by Frescobaldi I was completely entranced. I asked other directors about the piece – and I was dumb-founded by the fact it was such an old piece. I didn’t know it, […]
I had a fantastic experience on Friday, October 26th at Westminster College with the Wind Ensemble. It was an honor to have Pirates! performed by such an outstanding group of young musicians. It was also very rewarding to hear the seriousness with which they took the privilege of making music. In their pre-concert meeting in the band room, each of the […]
I revisited a favorite story of mine from several years ago after talking with a couple of dejected students following chair auditions at Mercer. I had written this story down as part of my portfolio that I presented at Duquesne University. As much of our actual time is building students up, what happens when they get knocked down? And how […]
This is part blog/part advertising so bear with me as I do a little promotion for my students, and offer some ideas to the new community of music educators who are not afraid to talk about ideas and issues that can have tremendous impacts upon our program. Thanks to the support of my administration I was able to institute a […]
It must be that time of year – football seasons are half over (except those of you football teams is boasting a 5-1 record like yours truly) , homecoming dances are playing their last slow dance (here’s hoping it’s Stairway to Heaven), and directors of ensembles everywhere are thinning out paperwork and are finally able to find portions of their […]
